Sockers Struggle to Beat Lazers, Begin to Worry About Playoffs

The San Diego Sockers clinched the Major Indoor Soccer League’s best record this season with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lazers Saturday night, but the league’s best team was looking over its shoulder a little bit after this one.

After all, the Sockers had already lost to the Lazers three times this season, and a fourth loss in six games was pending until Zoran Karic scored his 13th goal with seven minutes left to send the game into overtime.

Then, at the 9:31 mark of the extra period, Branko Segota scored his league-high 53rd goal on a pass from Raffaele Ruotolo to give the Sockers the victory in front of 10,418 fans in the San Diego Sports Arena.

The Sockers improved to 37-10 and are now 10 games ahead of Eastern Division leader Minnesota with nine games to play, locking up the home-field advantage for as long as they remain in the playoffs.

The Lazers, who fell to .500 (24-24) and into third place in the Western Division, a half-game behind Kansas City, felt afterward that they had let one get away.

The Sockers agreed.

“This was one that should have gone the other way,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said. “They outplayed us and had a lot of chances.”

In order to lose this one, the Lazers had to blow a two-man power-play advantage in the second quarter and a breakaway chance by Jim Gabarra that would have won the game with four minutes left. They also watched two shots deflect off the goalpost in the final moments.

It all left things in doubt until Segota fed a pass to Ruotolo at the top of the penalty box, broke right to accept a return pass and slid a shot past Lazer goalie David Brcic into the far corner of the goal.

“Sure, we had a lot of good chances, but it didn’t work out for us,” Lazer Coach Keith Tozer said. “We have to put this game out of our minds and get ready for the next one.”

That will be tonight when the Sockers and Lazers meet at the Forum at 6:05. It will be the final meeting of the year between the teams, whose season series stands at 3-3.

“This game didn’t do much for us as far as how we feel about possibly meeting them in the playoffs,” Newman said. “They are very quick and strong to the ball. They do a good job of winning loose balls against us. We have to elevate our game to match theirs.”

That’s a switch; other teams usually have had to try to do the elevating as the Sockers have gone 34-7 against the rest of the league.

But games against the Lazers seem to be different.

They scored first, one minute into the game, when Gabarra raced off the bench, took a pass from Thompson Usyan and beat Zoltan Toth with a high shot into the right corner of the goal.

Segota tied it early in the second quarter when he outdueled Chris Whyte for a loose ball at the top of the box, wheeled and fired a shot past Brcic.

Michael Collins scored his 21st goal midway through the quarter to put the Lazers ahead, 2-1, and moments later the Sockers were reeling, down two men because of penalties.

But defenders Kevin Crow, George Fernandez and Fernando Clavijo hustled to thwart Los Angeles’ 5-on-3 advantage, and Toth punctuated the effort by stopping the Lazers’ Chris Chueden from point-blank range as time ran out on the second penalty.

As often happens, the strong defensive effort helped put some spark into an offensive attack that had been slumbering earlier.

Two minutes before the end of the quarter, Segota broke free and fired a shot that Brcic stopped but couldn’t control. Ruotolo collected the loose ball in front and scored his seventh goal of the season to tie the game, 2-2, at halftime.

Socker Notes

Sockers midfielder Brian Quinn, who has been out since Feb. 14 with a right arch strain, tested his sore foot under game conditions Saturday afternoon and scored three goals and had one assist to lead the Sockers’ reserve team to an 8-3 victory over the Lazers’ reserve team in the Southwest Indoor Soccer League championship game at the Sports Arena. . . . Socker forward Juli Veee suffered a pulled hamstring and Socker defender Fernando Clavijo suffered a bruised right foot Saturday’s night. Neither is expected to play tonight, and both are listed as day-to-day after that. . . . Tonight’s game against the Lazers in Los Angeles will be televised on the Prime Ticket network, with the pregame show beginning at 5:45 p.m.